Many types of apparatus and various constructions have been employed in the fabrication and construction of apparatus specifically designed for the playing of the game of chess. The most conventional of such apparatus includes the planar surfaced playing board having the designated number of playing spaces formed by suitable indicia, such as black and white colored squares arranged in an alternating pattern on the surface of the playing board. The playing pieces are commonly three-dimensional representative of the specific game pieces, or they may be diagrammatic or illustrative in planar form and these pieces are placed on the designated playing spaces or squares. The number of game pieces, however, is substantially less than the number of the playing spaces or squares provided on the game board and thus the pieces may be readily moved from one location to another in accordance with the game rules.
Other common types of such apparatus that have been heretofore developed, includes those which include a metallic board with which magnetically cooperative playing pieces are provided for facilitating and assuring retention of the playing piece on a designated playing space. This particular type of apparatus is readily adapted to playing situations where there is a strong likelihood of dislodgment of the playing pieces as in the case of the previously described conventional game apparatus. Specifically, the magnetic type game devices are adapted for playing by persons being transported on vehicles, such as, trains, automobiles and airplanes.
Other types of game apparatus for the chess game include devices where there is a mechanical interengagement of the playing pieces with specific designated playing spaces on a game board. This form may often include a game playing device having a tongue or projection which can interfit in a suitable socket or receptacle that is formed in the game board. This interfit may be of a mechanical interference type to prevent inadvertant dislodgement or removal of a playing piece. This type of construction is also suitable for automobile use as the playing pieces will not be dislodged from the selected playing space but such apparatus constructions have the disadvantage of a non-planar upper surface as a consequence of the three-dimensional playing pieces positioned on the playing board. This non-planar or irregular surface configuration results from the fact that the playing pieces project upwardly from the playing surface and, since these pieces only occupy certain playing spaces, this results in other playing spaces which have surfaces of a different elevation.
The foregoing known types of game apparatus for the game of chess, while each particularly adapted to its specific designated purpose, are not deemed entirely suitable for the type of playing condition where a person may be involved in a number of simultaneous chess games as is commonly the occurence in the case of chess-by-mail games. For each such game, it is necessary that each player be provided with a separate and independent game board and game pieces for each opponent as that is the only means of recording the last attained move by either of players game pieces for each game. It is desirable that the game apparatus be readily storable in a convenient location without the risk of having the game pieces dislodged from their last attained position. Although it is possible to reconstruct the game, if this should occur, it is a cumbersome and time-consuming procedure to review all moves that have been made and noted in the interchange of correspondence to reconstruct the game to the last attained position. A further disadvantage with respect to the convenience of storage of the prior known apparatus, is that the known apparatus are not readily adapted to stacking to minimize the space that is occupied by several concurrently utilized game apparatus.